


shall we talk about the weather?

by strawberryke



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Grocery Store, Alternate Universe - High School, Christmas, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28462476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryke/pseuds/strawberryke
Summary: Sungjin’s heart squeezes at the mention of Younghyun’s name. Of all people, why did it have to be him?It’s okay Sungjin,he tells himself,it’s just restocking some dairy, you’ve done this a million times before. Just don’t say anything about the weather and you’ll be fine.(Wherein Sungjin has a crush on his coworker, Kang Younghyun, but all he can seem to talk to him about is the weather)
Relationships: Kang Younghyun | Young K/Park Sungjin
Comments: 11
Kudos: 51





	shall we talk about the weather?

“I told him that it’s going to rain today and that he should remember to bring an umbrella.” Sungjin recounts what had happened the prior day to his best friend Jae as he scans a customer’s items.

“Mmhm. And what did he say.”

“He was like, ‘Thanks, hyung!’ with that cute smile. Anyway, I was right and it _is_ raining,” Sungjin gestures towards the floor to ceiling windows at the front of the store to show the pouring rain outside. Jae doesn’t even look. “I hope he listened to my advice,” Sungjin says with a satisfied smile.

Jae rolls his eyes. “Sungjin, I’m gonna be honest here, you’ve got to talk to the guy about something else.”

“Like what?”

“Uh, maybe something like, ‘Hey, I have a massive crush on you, let’s hang out sometime?’”

Sungjin gives Jae the eye and turns back to the customer. “Your total is 42,000 won; how would you like to pay?”

“Credit card please,” the woman says, glancing at Jae every few seconds. He gives her his best customer service smile from behind Sungjin, leaning against the side of his till as he waits for a customer to come to his checkout lane. The store is pretty empty because of the rain, so Jae is just listening to Sungjin talk about his crush for the millionth time as he sips on a juice box.

Once she’s done paying, the woman gathers her groceries to leave. “Have a nice day!” Sungjin says with a smile, and then turns to Jae, crossing his arms over his chest. “I am _not_ gonna go up to him and just admit that I like him,” he hisses, looking around to make sure that no one’s eavesdropping. Gossip spreads like fire in this god-forsaken grocery store.

Jae raises a brow, sipping on his grape juice. “Well, it’s the truth isn’t it?”

“Yeah, but he’s just gonna think I’m weird. Or creepy.”

Jae rolls his eyes, “Honestly Sungjin, you have to say _something_. You’ve had a crush on the guy since he started working here, and in that time all you’ve talked to him about is the weather!”

“Hey, it’s a topic everyone has in common. It literally cannot fail!”

Jae shakes his head. “Face it man, you’re not getting anywhere with that. You need to go for it, tell him you like him! You know, YOLO and all that,” he finishes his juice box and tosses it into the bin beneath his till. The conversation is ended as Jae turns to serve a customer who walked up to his lane.

Sungjin frowns. _YOLO_ , huh?

\---

A few weeks later Sungjin comes to their first period Math class and sits down with a huff. “You were right Jae,” he says dropping his head onto his arms.

“As always,” Jae says, scrolling through his phone. “What was I right about this time?”

“I think I’m cursed to only talk to Younghyun about the weather.”

“You talked to him again?” Jae stops scrolling to turn to Sungjin with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, yesterday he came to me asking for a price check. That part was fine, but afterwards I tried to say something and my mind blanked.”

“And? What did you say in the end?”

“I told him it would be cold today and that he should bundle up,” Sungjin mumbles into his arms.

Jae bursts out laughing and Sungjin lifts his head from the desk to glare. Jae wipes a fake tear from his eye, “‘You should bundle up,’ ahh that’s classic. What are you, his _mom_?”

“Jaehyung please, I don’t know why I said it!” Sungjin sits up with a frown, frustratedly tapping his pencil on the desk. “Anything work-related, and my brain works fine. But as soon as that’s over, my mind goes blank and then I just jump to the weather.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘anything work-related’? Does he ask you things often?”

Sungjin shrugs, “Yeah, usually price checks. Sometimes he asks me about other stuff too.”

“Like what?”

“Hmm, usually about where things should go?” Sungjin looks up in thought, “One time he asked me for advice on the best way to stock pasta sauce bottles.”

Jae gives Sungjin a deadpan look.

“What?”

“He asks _you_ questions about stocking groceries? Instead of another actual stocker?”

“Yeah? He probably knows I’ve done it before.” Sungjin and Jae have worked at the _Farm Fresh_ grocery store near their school for more than two years now, so they’ve gone through nearly all the roles in the store. Of the younger workers, they are two of the more experienced employees there, considering most of them are high school students.

“Yeah, but why you? I’ve literally never been asked by anyone about stocking items when I’m at cash.”

“Maybe he just thinks I’m nice.”

“Uh huh. Seems sus to me.”

Sungjin slaps Jae’s arm, “He’s not _sus_ , Jaehyung, don’t say that about people.”

Jae shakes his head and turns back to his phone. For someone supposedly smart, his best friend can be kind of dense. “Okay, what about this, he’s in grade 11 right? I’m sure he’d love to know what it’s like to be a grade 12 student from an actual senior.”

Sungjin scrunches up his nose, “How would I even bring it up though?”

Jae shrugs, “I dunno man, you talk endlessly with me.” He raises his eyebrows, and snaps his fingers, “That’s it! Just pretend he’s me!”

Sungjin groans, “Why am I even friends with you.”

Jae makes a fake pained look, putting his hand over his heart, “I’m hurt! How could you say such a thing to your best friend in the entire world?”

Sungjin ignores him and starts pulling his books out as the teacher walks in and makes his way to the front of the class. Jae pats Sungjin on the head and Sungjin kind of wants to kill him but also doesn’t want to get scolded by the teacher so he just endures it.

Jae grins, “You know I’m always right,” he whispers, “Or at least like, 80% of the time. Just try it, maybe it’ll work.”

\---

Sungjin’s chance to try it comes sooner than expected. That weekend they’re working the morning shift, and it’s the last weekend before Christmas so the store is packed. Jae and Sungjin are working hectically at cash. When Sungjin sees a lull in the number of customers lining up, he puts down his “lane closed” sign to take his break, but then the manager, Mr. Kim, is jogging up to them.

“Kids, I need one of you to help in the dairy section. Something happened to the fridges and everything on the floor spoiled overnight. We need to replace everything,” Mr. Kim glances between them, waiting for one of them to volunteer. Jae, who has a long line of customers waiting for him, glances at Sungjin.

Sungjin sighs, “I’ll do it, sir.”

Mr. Kim grins and claps Sungjin on the shoulder. Hard. Sungjin winces.

“Good man! Come back to cash once you’re done, the customers won’t check themselves out!” He gives Sungjin another pat on the shoulder and strolls off to find some other employee to bother.

Jae makes a face of disdain, “Good luck, bro.”

Sungjin nods, giving Jae a wave as he makes his way to the dairy section. There he finds a very frazzled looking Yoon Dowoon pulling all the spoiled dairy products off the shelves as fast as he can.

“Hyung! You’re here!” Dowoon smiles in relief, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. “I didn’t think Mr. Kim would actually send someone to help.”

Sungjin snorts, “Maybe he’s feeling the Christmas spirit. How can I help?”

“I’m almost done here, but Younghyunnie hyung is in the back room getting all the fresh stuff onto a cart. He probably needs help.”

Sungjin’s heart squeezes at the mention of Younghyun’s name. Of all people, why did it have to be him? _It’s okay Sungjin,_ he tells himself, _it’s just restocking some dairy, you’ve done this a million times before. Just don’t say anything about the weather and you’ll be fine._

Sungjin nods to Dowoon and taps his card to enter the back room. He opens the walk-in cooler to find Younghyun pulling milk cartons onto a rolling cart. He glances up at the sound of the door opening.

“Hey,” Sungjin says, “Mr. Kim said you guys needed some help.”

“Yeah! Wow, I didn’t expect him to actually send someone.”

Sungjin grins, “That’s what Dowoon said too.”

“Well, I’m glad it’s you, hyung,” Younghyun says with a smile.

Sungjin pauses. He feels like his brain just malfunctioned. What is _that_ supposed to mean? He can’t think of how to reply so he just returns Younghyun’s smile and starts stacking boxes of milk cartons onto the cart.

After a few moments, Younghyun speaks up, “This cart is pretty full; I’ll go give it to Dowoon so he can restock the shelves, and we can start filling a second one with the yogurt products?”

Sungjin nods. He doesn’t think he’s capable of opening his mouth at the moment. After Younghyun has left with the cart, Sungjin whisper screams at the dairy products in front of him.

 _I’m glad it’s you, hyung._ That’s good, right?

Sungjin’s thoughts are cut short by the sound of the door opening again, and Younghyun walks in with an empty cart. They silently start filling it with cases of yogurt. It’s too quiet. _Am I the only one who feels awkward?_ Sungjin wonders. He sneaks a glance at Younghyun, but he can’t read the other boy’s facial expression. Sungjin bites his lip. The weather report said it would snow tomorrow. He wonders if Younghyun knows that? He opens his mouth to mention it but then he stops himself just as fast, shutting his mouth quickly. Not the weather _again_ , Park Sungjin. _What the hell is wrong with you?_ He silently berates himself.

Sungjin notices Younghyun’s movements pause from the corner of his eye. He turns to look at the other boy, who is rubbing his arms, shivering slightly.

“Are you okay?” Sungjin asks in concern.

“Yeah, I’m good,” Younghyun says with a sheepish smile. “I’m just cold. I didn’t bring a jacket today either because I got a ride here from my mom.”

Sungjin starts taking off his fleece jacket, “Here, take mine.”

Younghyun’s eyes widen, “No, hyung, I couldn’t! You need it too.”

Sungjin shakes his head, holding out his jacket to Younghyun, “It’s okay, I don’t get cold too easily. I was only wearing it because I couldn’t find my nametag this morning.” Once employees have worked at _Farm Fresh_ for two years, the company sends them an anniversary gift: a fleece jacket with the store’s logo on the back, and the employee’s name embroidered in the place they would normally pin their nametags. Sungjin was partially lying though, he hadn’t misplaced his nametag. He had actually brought the fleece jacket to wear because it gets chilly at cash with the front doors opening and closing. But Younghyun doesn’t need to know that.

“You still need it then,” Younghyun replies, “Mr. Kim will kill you if he sees you without a nametag.”

“Who’s gonna see us in here? Just return it to me when we’re done.” Sungjin raises his eyebrows and Younghyun presses his lips together. “Come on, I’ve already taken it off,” Sungjin says, softening his voice.

Younghyun stares at him for a second longer before the corners of his mouth turn up a little, and he takes the jacket from Sungjin’s outstretched hand. Their fingers brush, “Geez, your fingers are like ice,” Sungjin says in surprise.

Younghyun just laughs as he pulls on the jacket, zipping it up all the way. It’s slightly too big for him; the shoulders are baggy and the sleeves fall past his fingers, but Sungjin finds all this extremely cute. Seeing his name embroidered on something Younghyun is wearing is also strangely satisfying. Sungjin feels his face getting warm so he turns away, going back to the yogurt.

“Thanks, hyung,” Younghyun says with a smile, and Sungjin feels his heart squeeze. He really is going to die in this freaking refrigerator. “Are you sure you’re not cold?” Younghyun asks as he starts pulling the yogurt products onto the cart.

“Yeah, I’m fine, don’t worry.” He really does feel fine. Actually, scratch that. No, he is definitely not fine, and it’s not because of the cold. No, he’s burning up because his crush is wearing his jacket, and not just any old jacket, the one that has _Park Sungjin_ embroidered on the chest. Sungjin kind of wants to scream again but he’s not going to do that in front of Younghyun, so he just focuses on the task at hand. 

They fill the rest of the cart in silence and roll it to the door together. Younghyun goes to push the door open but it doesn’t budge. He turns to Sungjin with wide eyes, and both of them try to push it together with no success.

“Try the door release button,” Sungjin says, and Younghyun nods. He presses it and the boys wait with baited breaths for something to happen.

“Did it work?” Younghyun whispers.

“I don’t know, I thought there should be a sound when it releases or something.” Sungjin tries shoving at the door again. Younghyun presses the button a few more times as Sungjin pushes, but still nothing.

Sungjin runs a hand through his hair, “Maybe it’s broken?”

Younghyun wraps his arms around himself, “Hyung, we’re gonna die in here.”

Sungjin turns to Younghyun and tries to give him a reassuring smile, although he’s kind of freaking out internally too. At least they’re just in the cooler, not the freezer, right? They can’t actually die of hypothermia in here… unless they run out of oxygen first? Sungjin abruptly stops himself from that train of thought. _Try to get out first,_ he thinks, _if that doesn’t work, then maybe you can worry about dying._

“We’re not going to die.” He pulls out his phone, “Let’s see if we have signal in here first.”

Younghyun nods, and they both start walking around the cooler, trying to find an area with reception. After several minutes, Sungjin is close to giving up when Younghyun suddenly let’s out a shout. “Hyung! I have one bar here” Younghyun is standing near the door, his arm raised as high as he can.

“Do you have anyone’s number who’s working today?” Sungjin asks.

Younghyun nods as he scrolls through his contacts and calls Dowoon. They both breathe a sigh of relief as the call goes through, but then it goes straight to voicemail. “Dammit, he probably has his phone turned off. Let me try Wonpil.”

“Kim Wonpil from the customer service desk?”

“Yea, I think he’s our best bet. He’s always on his phone.” They both stare up at the phone for what seems like way too long as it rings, and then, thankfully, Wonpil picks up.

“Younghyunnie hyung? What’s up?”

Younghyun pulls his arm down to speak and the call gets disconnected. “Oh crap, I’m sorry,” He says, his hand shaking slightly. His fingers are now red from the cold.

“It’s okay, we’ll just try again,” Sungjin holds his hand out and Younghyun passes him the phone. He raises his arm and starts the call again, putting it on speaker.

Wonpil picks up for the second time, “Hello? Hyung? Are you prank calling me?”

“No! Wonpil, we’re stuck in the walk-in cooler!”

“What? I can’t hear you clearly, hyung, speak up.”

Younghyun raises his voice, “The walk-in cooler, Wonpil-ah!”

There’s a pause. Then Wonpil replies, “You need a talking ruler?”

Younghyun groans in frustration. Sungjin tiptoes as high as he can, bringing the phone as close to his mouth as he dares without letting it leave the range of signal. “WALK. IN. COOLER.” He bellows as clearly and loudly as he can.

“What? Did you say walk-in cooler? What about it?”

Younghyun grins, bouncing up and down on his toes, “Keep, going hyung!” he whispers.

Sungjin yells, “TRAPPED. IN. COOLER.”

Wonpil is silent and the boys are scared he can’t hear them anymore. But then his voice comes back through, “Is that you, Sungjin hyung? You guys are trapped in the walk-in cooler? Is that why I can’t hear you well?”

“YES.”

“Oh my God, okay, I’ll get Mr. Kim, just… don’t move.”

Wonpil hangs up, presumably to go get help, and Younghyun grins as they hi-five over the successful call for help. Sungjin leaves both of their phones on the top shelf so they’re in the reception zone if anyone tries to call them.

\---

Jae is just closing up his lane for his lunch break when Kim Wonpil from the customer service desk comes running up to him, breathless.

“Hyung,” Wonpil gasps out, his hands on his knees, “I think Younghyunnie hyung and Sungjin hyung are trapped in the walk-in cooler, and I can’t find Mr. Kim anywhere.”

Jae’s eyes widen with each word that leaves Wonpil’s mouth. “What? How do you know?” he asks as they start running to the back room.

“They called and told me, but I couldn’t hear clearly.”

Jae nods, that makes sense, the steel walls of the cooler block phone reception pretty well. They run into the back room.

Dowoon walks in soon after, rolling an empty cart in front of him.

“Oh, hey, hyungs,” he says in surprise, “What are you doing in here?”

“Sungjin and Younghyun are trapped in the cooler,” Jae says matter of factly, as he and Wonpil try to turn the handle on the door from the outside. It doesn’t budge.

Dowoon’s eyes widen, “I was wondering why they never came out with the yogurt!” He rushes over to help, all three boys pulling on the handle with all their might, but it doesn’t move even a single bit.

With the door not working, Jae checks the temperature controls for the cooler and tries to raise it from three degrees, but it won’t change.

“That’s been broken for a while, hyung, Mr. Kim knew but never got it fixed because we never needed to change the temp,” Dowoon whispers. Jae turns to see both of the younger boys staring at him with wide eyes.

“What do we do?” Wonpil asks, his voice shaking.

Jae purses his lips, technically they should be okay for now because the temperature isn’t below freezing. “Dowoon, go find Mr. Kim. Check the security room too, sometimes he takes naps in there. Get him to call the freezer repair people. Wonpil, go to the staff room and see if you can find anything in the training manual, like if there’s some other way to open the cooler. I’ll try talking to Sungjin and Younghyun and see if they’re okay.”

Dowoon and Wonpil nod and run off as Jae pulls out his phone, making a call to Sungjin. It takes a while to connect, but it eventually does, and Jae sighs in relief.

\---

Sungjin’s phone starts ringing and he jumps up to get it, but as soon as he reaches for it, the call disconnects. He groans.

“Maybe we can only make outbound calls, hyung? Try calling back,” Younghyun says.

Sungjin nods, and checks his call history. “It was Jae,” he says, surprise in his voice. Sungjin makes the call and Jae picks up almost immediately.

“Sungjin-ah!”

“Jae?”

“Damn, Wonpil was right, it sounds like you’re talking to me from somewhere really far away through like a broken walkie-talkie or something.”

Sungjin rolls his eyes. Park Jaehyung, the expert of losing focus and straying off topic. “Can you open the door?”

“What?”

“OPEN THE DOOR!”

“Yeah, the door won’t open. Listen, Dowoon and Wonpil are getting help, but I prepared for this exact situation when we used to be stockers. On the top shelf, in the corner farthest from the door, there should be a box with an emergency blanket. I put one in both the freezer and the cooler.”

Sungjin glances at the spot Jae is referring to as Younghyun pulls a stool over to check. From the very back corner of the shelf, Sungjin watches as Younghyun pulls down a box. He opens it, and as explained by Jae, there’s an emergency blanket wrapped in plastic. Younghyun pulls it out and then laughs.

“What?” Sungjin asks, and Younghyun lifts a piece of paper from the bottom of the box. He turns it to Sungjin. It’s a cut-out picture of Lee Hyori from a magazine.

“REALLY? LEE HYORI?” Sungjin shouts in the most judgemental voice he can muster.

Jae bursts out laughing, “Damn, I forgot I put that there. You know, it was so I could have something nice to look at before I died.”

Sungjin wants to throttle Jae through the phone, but then again, he did have the sense to put in a blanket. Maybe he could be forgiven.

“Oh, Mr. Kim is here, one sec.” Sungjin’s arm is starting to cramp from holding the phone up for so long, so he carefully drops it onto the top shelf, praying that the call stays connected. He starts massaging his arm.

Younghyun walks over with the foot stool in one hand, and the now unwrapped blanket in the other. He places the footstool in front of Sungjin, “You won’t have to lift your arm as high if you stand on this, and, you should take this,” he drapes the blanket around Sungjin’s shoulders. “Since I have your jacket,” he says with a smile.

Sungjin’s brain is malfunctioning again so all he can do is smile back helplessly and pull the blanket around his body. Now that he’s surrounded by it and less distracted by trying to escape, he realizes he _is_ feeling the cold.

Suddenly, Mr. Kim’s voice comes through the phone. “Boys, can you hear me? The freezer repair person will be here in 30 minutes. Will you be okay until then?”

There’s someone yelling in the background and Mr. Kim’s voice becomes muffled as he starts arguing back. Sungjin and Younghyun just stare at each other in silence. Younghyun’s cheeks and nose are starting to turn red, and he has his hands shoved into the pockets of Sungjin’s jacket. Sungjin steps onto the stool and yells into the phone, “IT’S COLD.”

“It’s only three degrees in there, you’ll be fine. Just huddle up!” There’s some more yelling on the other side of the line, and suddenly Jae’s voice comes through.

“Guys, I’m trying to get Mr. Kim to see some sense, okay? But Wonpil found some stuff in the manual that might help for now.”

“Hyungs? Can you hear me?” Wonpil asks.

“YEAH.” Sungjin’s voice is starting to go hoarse from all the yelling.

“Okay, here’s what you need to do, stack cardboard or plastic on the floor and against the walls so you’re not sitting directly on cold metal, and use extra cardboard to make a warm shelter. After this, try not move around or exert too much energy, and make sure all of your skin is covered. Got it?”

“GOT IT, THANK YOU,” Sungjin yells back.

They get to work, following Wonpil’s instructions, and end up with stacked cardboard boxes on the floor to sit on, and some in a triangle shape to create a sort of tent on top of it. They stand there admiring their hard work for a second, and then Younghyun is crawling under the cardboard tent. He sits with his knees drawn up to his chest and stares up at Sungjin, who just stares back.

Sungjin is suddenly realizing how small their “tent” is. Why hadn’t they made it a bit bigger? He pulls the blanket tighter around his shoulders, maybe he can survive just standing here for half an hour.

“Aren’t you gonna sit?” Younghyun asks, patting the spot beside him.

Sungjin hesitates, but before he can decide what to do, Younghyun is reaching out and grabbing his hand, pulling him down into the shelter. Sungjin laughs in surprise, and takes his spot beside Younghyun. He glances at the boy beside him, his face flushed from the cold, and Sungjin feels a rush of concern. He wraps one end of the blanket around Younghyun’s shoulders so that it’s bundled around both of them. The blanket isn’t exactly big enough for two people, so they need to press together, their sides touching all the way from shoulders to bent knees. Sungjin tries to distract himself with arranging the two ends of the blanket together so that the cold doesn’t get in, but that doesn’t take very long. Soon they’re sitting in silence, the sounds of their breathing and the buzz of the cooler the only noises to be heard.

Sungjin hadn’t thought this through, he should have just given Younghyun the blanket and faced the cold on his own with just the shirt on his back. He couldn’t handle this; he really was going to die, his heart felt like it was about to race out of his chest. Oh God he hopes Younghyun can’t somehow feel his heartbeat through his arm or something.

Younghyun sniffles softly, breaking the silence. Sungjin turns to look at him and then immediately regrets it, their faces are way too close together. He wants to turn away but Younghyun is blinking up at him. “What’s wrong?” Younghyun whispers.

“Nothing,” Sungjin whispers back, quickly turning his head to face the front again. He feels himself start to blush and Sungjin tries to distract himself. The silence was overwhelming him. What could they talk about though? Jae’s advice from the other day comes back to him, and he wonders if it could actually work.

“Hey, do you wanna hear about my school?” Sungjin doesn’t turn to look at Younghyun, he’s not making that mistake again. So, he stares down at his hands instead.

“Sure!” Younghyun replies, shifting slightly to get more comfortable.

So Sungjin tells Younghyun about his classes, his favourite and not so favourite teachers, the different sports teams he’s on, and the shenanigans Jae gets up to in class. Younghyun laughs at that, “I never would have expected you two to be friends.”

“Me neither,” Sungjin says with a grin. “What’s your school like?”

Younghyun starts talking about the different clubs he’s in, his friends, and how much he sucks at math, and Sungjin asks him questions when he’s curious about something. Surprisingly, Younghyun is easy to talk to. And somewhere along the way, Younghyun’s head ends up resting on Sungjin’s shoulder.

What the hell, Sungjin can’t believe Jae’s advice actually worked.

They go quiet for a few moments, but this time Sungjin doesn’t feel awkward.

“Are you still cold?” he asks.

Younghyun shakes his head, his hair tickling Sungjin’s neck. “You’re so warm, hyung, you’re like a heater.”

Sungjin laughs and they fall into comfortable silence again.

Sungjin wonders, if this part of Jae’s advice worked, would the other advice work too?

_YOLO?_

“Hey, Younghyun?”

“Yeah, hyung?”

“I have something to say to you.” His voice cracks at the end and Sungjin blames it on all the shouting into the phone earlier, but he must have sounded serious because Younghyun lifts his head from Sungjin’s shoulder to look at him.

“I-”

Before Sungjin can get any further, he’s interrupted by the freezer door being pulled open, and paramedics rushing in. The boys are pulled to their feet and more blankets are being draped over their shoulders as they’re herded into the staff room.

Sungjin would later find out that Jae had been the one yelling in the background when Mr. Kim was on the phone with them in the cooler. He had thrown a fuss, saying this was illegal, that everyone knew the cooler was broken, and that Mr. Kim had done nothing to fix it. He argued that they could sue Mr. Kim for damages, and that they had the right to call for emergency services. Mr. Kim had eventually given in, and Wonpil had made the call for the paramedics. Jae had also called Sungjin’s mom, and made Mr. Kim get Younghyun’s employee file so they could call his parents as well.

So now they had quite the audience, Younghyun’s parents, Sungjin’s mom, Jae, Wonpil, Dowoon, and Mr. Kim, all watching as the paramedics inspected their fingers and toes one by one. Asking the boys if they feel anything from a long list of possible symptoms. No? If they do happen to have any of these symptoms later on, to head to the ER immediately. While the paramedics are having their parents fill in some forms, Jae, Wonpil, and Dowoon surround Sungjin and Younghyun in a group huddle.

“Are you guys okay?”

“You must have been so scared.”

“Did the picture of Lee Hyori help?”

Sungjin and Younghyun just glance at each other and share a smile.

\---

The next time all five boys work the same shift is the eve of Christmas eve. Once the store closes, Jae and Sungjin are cleaning up their checkout lanes when Wonpil runs over, his eyes shining brightly.

“Hyungs, it’s the first time we’re all working the same shift since the incident! It’s time for a reunion!” Wonpil gives Jae a high five and then leans against the checkout lane. “I already texted Dowoon, he said he’d come here with Younghyunnie hyung.”

Dowoon and Younghyun walk up then, but before they can have their reunion, some of the other cashiers come over when they see the whole crew together. Word of what had happened spread fast among the rest of the employees, this was the most interesting thing to happen in ages. Plus, now everyone had more reasons to dislike Mr. Kim. The boys are basically temporary celebrities, everyone wants to hear the story from them first-hand.

“Is it true that Mr. Kim was more scared of the cooler being damaged than for Sungjin oppa and Younghyun oppa’s safety?” one of the girls asks with wide eyes.

Jae nods seriously, and starts recounting the story to them. “When the repair guy arrived, the paramedics were already there, and they were like ‘Please get the door open.’ And Mr. Kim was like, ‘With as little damage to the cooler as possible, please.’ And the paramedic got _so_ pissed, even I was kinda scared.”

Wonpil laughed, “Yeah, he was like,” he deepens his voice and puffs out his chest in an imitation of the paramedic, “Sir, there are two minors in that cooler. Please open the door as soon as possible or I will be forced to call the police for reckless endangerment of lives.”

Dowoon snickers, “Mr. Kim looked like a fish out of water, no sound was coming out of his mouth.”

They all crack up at that, Dowoon, Wonpil, and Jae taking turns to show the girls how Mr. Kim’s reaction had looked. Sungjin just smiles and shakes his head. He’s already heard the story multiple times from Jaehyung, and somehow the retelling just gets even more ridiculous every time.

“Hyung,” Younghyun taps Sungjin’s shoulder to get his attention, “I’m sorry, I forgot your jacket at home, my mom even washed it so I could return it to you.”

“No, don’t worry, it’s fine! You can return it anytime.” Sungjin would even be fine if Younghyun kept his jacket forever, but he’s not going to admit that.

“Are you working tomorrow?”

“Yeah, closing shift.”

“Nice! I’ll come by and drop it off then,” Younghyun says with a grin.

“No, it’s okay, don’t go out of your way on Christmas Eve.”

Younghyun laughs, “Don’t worry about it, hyung, I want to come,” he turns to go, pulling Dowoon along with him, “We need to finish tidying up the shelves. I’ll see you tomorrow, hyung?”

Sungjin feels warm all over, “Yeah, see you!”

After they’re out of earshot, Wonpil turns to Sungjin with a raised eyebrow. “What was _that_?”

“What was what?”

“You like him, don’t you?” Wonpil is grinning ear to ear now.

Sungjin turns to Jae with wide eyes, “Jae, you told him?!” he hisses.

Jae bursts out laughing. He holds up his hands, “Nope, I didn’t. But you just did!”

Sungjin groans, dropping his head into his hands. Jae pats him on the back but he’s still laughing as Wonpil starts spiralling out of control, “Oh my God this is like a drama or something! Two lovers trapped in a walk-in cooler.” He says in a breathy voice. “Wait, did you guys _kiss_ in there?!”

Sungjin groans again and doesn’t even bother to reply.

\---

Jae is running through the store frantically. _Where are they?_ he wonders. He runs past the grocery aisles and into the staff room, finally finding the two boys bent over Dowoon’s phone, probably looking at memes or something. Jae runs up and grabs both of their shoulders, “Come on losers, it’s happening!”

Wonpil’s eyes widen, “Wait, really?”

Jae turns and starts running back to the checkout lanes, hoping he hadn’t missed it all in his efforts to gather Wonpil and Dowoon. Wonpil runs after Jae, and Dowoon soon follows after grabbing his phone from the table.

“What’s happening? Why are we running?” Dowoon asks.

Jae stops by Sungjin’s checkout lane, bending to hide behind the magazine rack. Wonpil leans over his shoulder and squeals softly.

“What are you guys looking at?” Dowoon frowns and tiptoes to peek over the top of the magazine rack, “Oh- oh?”

\---

Sungjin is closing out his till when sees Younghyun waiting for him at the end of the grocery belt, and his heart jumps up to his throat. Sungjin wouldn’t be working for the next few weeks over the holidays as family would be coming over, so he had decided it was now or never. He would tell Younghyun today or he wouldn’t get the chance for _three entire weeks_. So, he’d been waiting his entire shift, wondering when the other boy would show up. When the store closed with no sign of Younghyun he had been the tiniest bit disappointed.

Okay that’s a lie, he had been _really_ disappointed.

He should’ve known Younghyun might show up after closing.

“Hi, hyung!” Younghyun says brightly as Sungjin walks over to him.

“Hey! Happy Christmas Eve.”

Younghyun hands him his jacket back. It’s folded neatly, and there’s a red envelope on top with a candy cane taped to it.

“What’s this?” Sungjin asks, and he’s not sure if it’s the lighting or his imagination, but he’s pretty sure Younghyun is blushing.

“Just a little something for Christmas,” Younghyun smiles and Sungjin’s heart goes into overdrive. He swallows hard. His last chance before break, now or never.

YOLO, right?

“Hey, remember when I said I had something to tell you when we were in the cooler?”

Younghyun laughs, “Yeah, you got rudely interrupted by our rescuers.”

Sungjin tugs on his ear nervously. He stares into Younghyun’s eyes, memorizing how he looks in this moment in case what he says makes the other boy never want to talk to him again. “Well, what I wanted to say was,” he takes a deep breath, “I like you. A lot. I have for a long time actually. Even before the whole cooler thing.” Sungjin grins sheepishly.

Younghyun’s eyes widen and Sungjin is scared, he’s not sure what kind of reaction he had been expecting, but he can’t tell if this is good or bad. He plows on regardless, “I was just wondering, if you maybe wanted to do something sometime? Together?” When Younghyun still doesn’t say anything, Sungjin panics even more, “Of course you don’t have to answer now, and you can say no, that’s okay too-”

Younghyun smiles then, and it’s so bright that Sungjin’s heart lurches, is he about to get laughed at?

“Read my card, hyung,” he says, his eyes crinkling.

“What?”

“The card! Just read it.”

Now this was an interesting way of getting turned down. Sungjin puts his jacket down on the grocery belt and opens the envelope. Inside is a Christmas card with a polar bear holding an umbrella on the front.

“It reminded me of you,” Younghyun says with a grin.

Sungjin laughs at that but he’s still awaiting a painful rejection as he opens the card. Inside it reads:

_Dear Sungjin hyung,_

_Talking to you in the walk-in cooler was nice. I was wondering if you wanted to do it again, but maybe somewhere warmer? Let me know, 602-xxx-xxxx_

_Hope you have a good Christmas break!_

_Younghyun_

Sungjin looks up to see Younghyun watching for his reaction, his smile radiant. Was he reading this right? Did he just get Younghyun’s number without even asking for it?

“Text me? I kinda have to go now cuz my mom is waiting for me outside.”

Sungjin mirrors Younghyun’s smile and nods, “Yea, I’ll text you.” Sungjin thinks he must have actually died in the cooler because this cannot be real.

Younghyun glances at the door and then back at Sungjin. He bites his lips for a second and then leans forward and kisses Sungjin on the cheek. Sungjin’s mind goes blank.

“Merry Christmas, hyung! Talk to you later?” Younghyun asks as he starts walking away backwards so he can still see Sungjin.

It takes Sungjin a moment to get his mouth working again. “Yea- yeah for sure, we’ll talk later! Merry Christmas!” Sungjin gives a small wave and Younghyun waves back before turning and running out the doors of the store.

Sungjin looks down at the card, reading it again. And then he rereads it once more, pausing over each word. His face hurts from smiling but he can’t stop.

“What does it say?” comes a voice from right beside him. Sungjin startles and nearly drops the card, but Jae grabs it from his hands before it can fall. “‘Maybe somewhere warmer?’ Oh my God, I didn’t know he was so cheesy.” Wonpil snatches the card from Jae and reads it too.

“Hey.” Sungjin tries to get it back, but Wonpil and Dowoon are now doing a dramatic re-enactment of what (they think) happened in the walk-in cooler.

Dowoon shakes Wonpil by the shoulders, “Oh _no_ , we’re trapped in the cooler, Younghyun! What are we going to do?”

“Hyung, it’s _so_ cold in here, could you warm me up?” Wonpil says, dramatically throwing his arms around Dowoon’s neck. Wonpil stares up at Dowoon through his lashes, trying to flutter them, but to Sungjin it just looks like he’s blinking really fast because he got something in his eye.

“Of course, anything for you,” Dowoon says, dropping his voice lower to sound seductive. Dowoon wraps his arms around Wonpil’s waist. They stare into each other’s eyes, and Jae is laughing his ass off.

“Okay, cut it out,” Sungjin says. He snatches the card from Wonpil’s hand and carefully slips it back into the envelope. Now all three of the other boys are cracking up, and Sungjin tries to appear unaffected, but his body betrays him. His ears have turned red, and the blush is quickly travelling down his neck too. Jae notices and pats Sungjin on the shoulder, “I’m happy for you man. No more being a chicken, okay? You better text him or I’m stealing your phone and doing it for you.”

Wonpil is nodding furiously, “Text him _now_ hyung. I don’t trust you.”

Sungjin snorts, and pulls out his phone. He puts in Younghyun’s number from the card, and sends a text. “There, happy? Can we close up the store now? I don’t want to be here all night with you people on Christmas eve.”

Dowoon snickers, “Just admit you love us hyung, you’re gonna miss us over the break.”

Sungjin rolls his eyes, “Uh huh, sure, now go make sure everything is in order so we can close.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Dowoon says with a salute, turning away. Wonpil goes with him, the two of them giggling and bumping each other’s shoulders as they run to the produce section.

Sungjin turns to see Jae smiling at him. “What?” Sungjin feels self conscious.

“Nothing, I just really am happy for you bro. Now I finally don’t have to listen to you pining over Kang Younghyun every damn day,” Jae claps Sungjin on the shoulder, and Sungjin grins.

Yea, he feels pretty happy too.

“Merry Christmas, Sungjinnie.” Jae pulls Sungjin into a headlock, messing up Sungjin’s hair with his free hand. Sungjin laughs as he shoves Jae away, the two of them stumbling through the store.

“Merry Christmas, Jae.”

**Author's Note:**

> there is a severe lack of sungbri in this place so i decided to write some myself lol. i know it's a bit late for christmas, i apologize, i am a very slow writer :') 
> 
> thank you for reading!! i hope you enjoyed!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/_strawberryke)


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